Education Packages:EmmaLakeArchiveEdGuide.pdfCameron Forbes, Cabin 12, A-Frame. (for Emma Lake Archive), Gouache and Watercolour on paper. 11 x 14 inches, 2012
The University of Saskatchewan’s Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus is of great importance to the people of Saskatchewan. Hundreds have attended the summer workshops for visual arts, music and science as a part of their university education, as professional art development or to pursue a passionate interest. The site holds a place in Canadian art history as the site of the infamous Emma Lake artist workshops, hosting dozens of lead artists ranging from Barnett Newman to Frank Stella.

In the early fall of 2012, Cameron Forbes and Crystal Bueckert were invited to visit the Emma Lake as artists in residence. Their intent was to document the buildings that make up the campus. Bueckert and Forbes were drawn to the eclectic architecture styles, the state of disrepair and miniature nature
of the buildings. The buildings themselves held a certain energy - they were containers for stories.

Forbes painted the interior of the buildings and their parts while Bueckert created as-built, scaled architectural drawings of each building. Not knowing it at the time, they were to be the last artists in residence to date. The work they made from this period has been compiled into a book - “Emma Lake Archive”.

There is no other archive like this of the Campus. The fact that these works are hand drawn and painted brings them into a different space than blueprints or computer renderings. The two
different drawing styles engage with one another to create a more atmospheric, spatial experience. Recognizing an important part of Saskatchewan’s cultural history, this exhibition will be relevant to the interests of the communities it will travel to.